Opponents plan to sue over synagogue plan

Frank MacEachern

Updated 10:19 pm, Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Donald Heller, chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission, speaks during the commission's meeting at Greenwich Town Hall, Tuesday night, Jan. 29, 2013. The commission granted Greenwich Reform Synagogue's proposal for a lot-line revision of an Orchard Street property to make way for its new facility.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Attorney Mario Coppola speaks during the Greenwich Planning & Zoning Commission meeting at Greenwich Town Hall, Tuesday night, Jan. 29, 2013. Coppola represented Cos Cob residents who were against the Greenwich Reform Synagogue in its proposal for a lot-line revision of an Orchard Street property to make way for its new facility. The revision was granted by the commission.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Members of the audience during the Greenwich Planning & Zoning Commission meeting at Greenwich Town Hall, Tuesday night, Jan. 29, 2013. The commission granted Greenwich Reform Synagogue's proposal for a lot-line revision of an Orchard Street property to make way for its new facility.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Attorney Thomas Heagney speaks during the Greenwich Planning & Zoning Commission meeting at Greenwich Town Hall, Tuesday night, Jan. 29, 2013. Heagney represented the Greenwich Reform Synagogue in its proposal for a lot-line revision of an Orchard Street property to make way for its new facility. The revision was granted by the commission.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Cos Cob resident, Debra Brandt, who lives on Valleywood Road, speaks during the Greenwich Planning & Zoning Commission meeting at Greenwich Town Hall, Tuesday night, Jan. 29, 2013. The commission granted Greenwich Reform Synagogue's proposal for a lot-line revision of an Orchard Street property to make way for its new facility. Brandt spoke out against the lot-line revision.
Photo: Bob Luckey

The Greenwich Planning & Zoning Commission meeting at Greenwich Town Hall, Tuesday night, Jan. 29, 2013. The commission granted Greenwich Reform Synagogue's proposal for a lot-line revision of an Orchard Street property to make way for its new facility.
Photo: Bob Luckey

At center, Anthony Lovallo, who lives at 90 Orchard Street in Cos Cob, during the Greenwich Planning & Zoning Commission meeting at Greenwich Town Hall, Tuesday night, Jan. 29, 2013. The commission granted Greenwich Reform Synagogue's proposal for a lot-line revision of an Orchard Street property to make way for its new facility. The property is next to Lovallo's who was against the revision.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Opponents of a proposed synagogue in Cos Cob are vowing a court challenge after a key decision by the Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday allows the Greenwich Reform Synagogue to proceed with its plan.

The commission ruled that a lot line revision, needed for the synagogue to have enough land to build at 92 Orchard St., was neither a subdivision nor a resubdivision. It agreed with synagogue lawyer Thomas Heagney's assertion the application was a simple lot line revision.

Sarah Darer Littman, one of the leaders in the opposition to the synagogue's plans, said the fight would continue.

"I think they can count on the fact we will be filing an appeal," she said in brief comments before opponents huddled with their lawyer, Mario Coppola, in a room at Town Hall to plot their next move.

"It is disappointing," Coppola said in comments after the decision. "They made the easy decision, but unfortunately they didn't make the right decision."

Heagney, not surprisingly, took an opposite view.

"They have done dozens of applications like this. They have gone ahead and followed the same process."

About 100 people in the Town Hall Meeting Room greeted the commission's decision with silence.

In October, the synagogue purchased 92 Orchard St., a lot of less than 1 acre that is not large enough for its building.

The synagogue was successful Tuesday in its application to split in two the adjacent property at 96 Orchard St., with about 38,000 square feet joined to 92 Orchard St., while the balance, about 12,450 square feet, would stay in the hands of property owner Lou Caravella.

The commission had to approve that lot-line revision before the synagogue could formally acquire the section of 96 Orchard St., it wanted as well as another nearby property at 22 Osee Place, owned by Randy Caravella, Lou Caravella's son. The combined properties would give the synagogue a 2-acre site.

About a half-dozen residents voiced opposition to the synagogue's plan before the commission made its decision.

They were reminded by commission Chairman Donald Heller that comments could only be about the lot-line revision application and not about future uses of the property. The commission cannot consider what may be proposed because no plan has been submitted, Heller said.

Among the speakers was Littman, who was upset that the applicant had referred to the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act in its application. The federal law adopted in 2000 allows religious institutions to avoid what are deemed burdensome zoning regulations.

"The applicant is trying to have it both ways," she said. "The commission is telling us we cannot look forward in terms of the application, yet the applicant's attorney is trying to bring up RLUIPA, which is based on a religious use, and as our attorney rightfully pointed out, at this point, there is no religious use.

"I think they are trying to intimidate the commission by pulling the RLUIPA card, and I think that they are trying to have it both ways and that it's wrong."

Littman, who is Jewish, has previously said neighbors were not opposed to the proposal because it is a synagogue, but instead of fears it would lead to increased traffic and a large building that does not fit in the neighborhood.

Although comments were to be limited to the lot-line revision application, the commission did not cut off a developer who said a synagogue would overwhelm neighbors.

Riverside resident Carl Anderson brought along an artist's rendition of a 10,000-square-foot Georgian Colonial he built in the late 1990s in a community of homes about 2,500 to 3,000 square feet. He said the home was much larger than the surrounding homes.

He questioned how a synagogue, originally pegged to be about 20,000 square feet, would look in the Cos Cob neighborhood.

"How is a structure twice the size going to look in a residential neighborhood where the houses are that size," he said. "I don't think it is proper, and it doesn't belong in that location."

He said the building should be erected in areas along Route 1, warning of a precedent that could allow other religious institutions to be built in residential zones.

The synagogue's president, Robert Birnbaum, said they anticipate a building less than 20,000 square feet.

Heagney said the next move for the synagogue is to hire an architect and develop its plans.